The Middlebury women’s basketball team has had quite the hot start thus far in the season. Going undefeated in the month of November, the team has beaten Oneonta State (60-38) on Friday, Nov. 20, Hartwick College (61-58) on Nov. 21 and Johnson State (57-52) on Tuesday, Nov. 24. The Panthers have relied on their underclassmen’s talent to win games in the absence of captain and most senior leader, Elizabeth Knox ’17, who is injured and hoping to return to the courts in January.
Middlebury began the season at the Holiday Inn Classic at SUNY Oneonta where they played the host. The Panthers ended the first quarter with a 14-9 lead, and did not look back.
Oneonta only hit 14 of their attempted 75 shots (18.7 percent shooting), and grabbed 40 rebounds while Middlebury shot an impressive 41.7 percent from the field, going 25-60. The Panthers also grabbed 58 rebounds. Point guard Sarah Kaufman ’18 led Middlebury’s scoring effort, sinking 23 points total in the game. Catherine Harrison ’19 also helped seal the win in her impressive college debut: she knotted her first career double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 15 boards.
One day later, the team carried this momentum into their matchup against Hartwick College. Middlebury emerged victorious from the constant back-and-forth that ended with a score of 61-58.
Harrison was the high scorer of the game, with 20 points and 9 rebounds, while Colleen Caveney ’19 had 12 points and went 6-7 from the field. Kaufman again scored in double-digits, racking up ten points total. Middlebury continued their shooting success going 24-50 from the field (48 percent).
Three days later on Tuesday, Nov. 24, the Panthers embarked on another road trip to face their local rival, Johnson State (JSU). Middlebury won what proved to be another close contest 57-52.
JSU cut Middlebury’s lead down to two with just under a minute remaining. However, the Panthers hit three foul shots and a layup to seal a five-point win. Kaufman led Middlebury again in scoring with 18 points, while Harrison scored 12. Eileen Daley ’18 scored five and recorded a career-high of 13 rebounds.
After a very promising start to her Middlebury career, Harrison — who averages 16.0 points and 12.0 rebounds per game, and shot an 82.4 percentage from the floor (14-17) — was named the NESCAC Player of the Week.
The Panthers will begin to rev up their out-of-conference schedule as they face Skidmore on the road this Saturday, December 5th at 2 p.m. before NESCAC competition begins after the New Year.
